METAMORPHOSES

3 September 2026 – 3 October 2026

Opening 3 September 2026 from 6pm

Artists
SHU Rui/Laetitia DUCRETTET 

Curator
Maribel NADAL JOVÉ

METAMORPHOSES 

Maribel NADAL JOVÉ

The title Métamorphosés first imposes itself as a plural. It evokes all the forms of transformation that run through their works. Faces are made up, expressions are distorted, animals become characters, everyday objects change status, and consumption constantly produces new appearances. Nothing is entirely stable: everything is in a state of becoming.

This idea of metamorphosis forms the true guiding thread of the exhibition. Presented in dialogue, the works of Shu Rui and Laetitia Ducrettet engage with this shared question: what becomes of a face when it is made up, filmed, or observed? What becomes of an animal when it is humanized? What becomes of an object when it leaves behind its use and enters the field of art? Through different media, the two artists show that our era is constantly transforming bodies, images, objects, and identities. Metamorphosis is no longer simply a theme inherited from mythological narratives; it becomes a condition of the contemporary world.

Since mythological narratives, metamorphosis has accompanied the history of images: Jupiter becomes a swan, Narcissus turns into a flower. In the work of Shu Rui and Laetitia Ducrettet, the transformations are less radical; they affect appearance rather than identity. Yet they question our time, in which appearances, filters, and staging increasingly shape our relationship to the world.

Shu Rui’s watercolours originate in images gathered from the Internet. In an age of visual overproduction, looking at others has become a daily activity. Watching strangers apply make-up or eat in front of a camera has become part of a normalized consumption of images. While make-up tutorials respond to a desire to learn, videos in which we watch people swallow large quantities of food belong to a sometimes disconcerting form of voyeurism.

By transposing these screenshots into painting, Shu Rui extracts them from the digital flow. What seemed ordinary regains an unexpected strangeness. The portraits are born from a rapid gesture, echoing the speed at which the videos that inspire them scroll past. They represent anonymous figures as well as content creators or internationally famous models, all captured in a moment when their features are distorted by a gesture or an expression.

The artist masters traditional portraiture, made from a live model and rooted in the long duration of observation. Here, by contrast, she chooses the digital image as her starting point. This collection of images becomes a playground, humorously diverting the abundance of content produced to be consumed ever more quickly.

Laetitia Ducrettet’s sculptures develop two major themes in her practice: masks and animals. Made in Limoges porcelain or stoneware, her masks bring to life popular figures such as Dracula, Pinocchio, or Bandito, as well as carnivalesque characters in which animals themselves become made up. Theatre, cabaret, and popular culture meet in a universe that is both whimsical and generous.

Installed in the window display, the large grotesque animal sculpture belongs to the Monstres series. The artist imagines these creatures as guardians inspired by the Egyptian statuary of Luxor, hybridized with the world of animation, particularly Wallace and Gromit. Far from any naturalistic representation, these animals become expressive characters, more amusing than disturbing.

The creatures made up with false eyelashes, glitter, and bright colours naturally enter into dialogue with Shu Rui’s watercolours. They respond to the grimaces caused by the application of mascara or kohl and extend the reflection on the artifices that transform faces.

Echoing the scenes of devouring painted by Shu Rui, Laetitia Ducrettet also presents a textile installation conceived especially for this exhibition. In the basement, bottles, packaging, and consumer products accumulate until they form a colourful mountain. Without adopting a moralizing discourse, the artist evokes overproduction and waste through a visual vocabulary nourished by humour, references to popular culture, and an almost decorative aesthetic. Derision here becomes a way of opening up reflection rather than imposing it.

Métamorphosés thus proposes a narrative of the present, where the saturation of images, false appearances, consumption, and permanent transformations intersect. The metamorphoses that run through the works are never only physical: they also concern uses, representations, and our way of looking at the world. By revealing artifice with humour, fantasy, and sometimes derision, Shu Rui and Laetitia Ducrettet invite the visitor to question their own metamorphoses. The title then ceases to designate only the works: it ultimately includes us as well.

Artists

SHU Rui

Laetitia DUCRETTET

born in Annecy in 1998, lives and works in Limoges. A graduate of the ESAAA in Annecy in 2023 and then of the ENSAD in Limoges in 2025, she chose to settle there in order to develop her ceramic practice. After an internship with Michel Gouéry in Paris, she took part in several exhibitions, notably at the Musée national Adrien Dubouché, the Musée Cécile Sabourdy, La Cour des Arts in Tulle, and the exhibition Cluster #1 at the Pavillon de l’Orangerie in Limoges. A member of the Réfractaires network, the independents of ceramics in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, she also leads workshops with the FRAC Artothèque Nouvelle-Aquitaine and recently completed a residency in Draguignan with Drago.

Curator  

Maribel NADAL JOVÉ